Visually Impaired Preschool Services

Researchers and therapists who work with children who are visually impaired have demonstrated there is a direct correlation between early intervention and future academic success. Armed with this knowledge, a group of concerned parents and community volunteers founded Visually Impaired Preschool Services (VIPS) in 1985. Their mission was to enhance learning opportunities by providing early intervention services to young children with blindness or low vision and their families in the Louisville area. They began with grants of $10,000 each from Metro United Way and the WHAS Crusade for Children. VIPS started modestly with one employee providing eight families with home-based early intervention services once a week. As awareness of VIPS grew, so did the demand for services. In January of 2002, we began a $2.3 million Capital Campaign with the goal of additional space for office and support services as well as a Classroom Wing for center-based preschool services. VIPS purchased the building at 1906 Goldsmith Lane, renovated the space, and moved in December of 2004. In the Summer of 2008, the Kosair Charities Kids Town and the Kentucky School for the Blind Charitable Foundation Classroom Wing were completed. In the fall of 2008, young children who were blind, visually impaired or deaf-blind from across the region came to VIPS for preschool. VIPS is the first preschool for children with blindness/low vision in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

VIPS provides early intervention services to Kentucky and Indiana's youngest children with blindness and low vision. Services include evaluations, in-home visits, and access to resources that help parents and caregivers better understand and support their child with visual impairment. Kids Town Preschool at VIPS is a nationally recognized and AdvancED accredited preschool that supports and encourages the mission of preparing children with visual impairments to function as closely as possible to their same-age peers in a typical preschool environment. At Kids Town Preschool, children will be prepared for successful academic and social integration. Our students are exposed to a variety of medium formats (print, auditory, braille) to help each them be successful in a developmentally appropriate learning environment. The children attending Kids Town Preschool find themselves in specialized settings where the development of specific vision-related skills is embedded into their daily preschool activities.